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Corporations fill Liberal coffers

Since 2005, businesses have showered the party with $46 million

Liberal leader Christy Clark tries to fold a membrane separator during a campaign stop at Saltworks Technology in Vancouver, B.C. Monday, April 22, 2013. British Columbians will go to the polls May 14th.

Photograph by: Jonathan Hayward
, THE CANADIAN PRESS

The top donors to the B.C. Liberal Party in the past decade are a well-heeled corporate coterie.

The top 20, which gave nearly $10 million to the Liberals from 2005 to 2012, include a who’s who of the mining, forestry, retail investment and building sectors, according to a detailed database constructed by The Vancouver Sun from Elections BC information. There’s also representation from resource sector suppliers, the oil and gas sector and the auto sales sector.

Corporate donors pumped $46 million into the Liberal Party coffers between 2005 and 2012.

In total, corporate donors accounted for about 60 per cent of the $76 million collected by the party in the eight-year period.

Why do these corporations give, and why so much?

The companies are circumspect about that, saying generally they support the party that supports the kind of business-friendly policies that help their companies and are good for the economy.

The companies in the top five that agreed to speak to The Sun said there were not any specific items they were seeking from their contributions, although the B.C. lobbying registry shows they have sought specifics from the Liberals.

Two of the companies — Teck Resources and Goldcorp — declined to be interviewed about their political contributions.

In a brief email response, Teck noted its donations are a matter of public record. “We support government policies that encourage job creation and economic growth for British Columbia communities,” said Teck spokesman Chris Stannell in the email.

Teck gave about $250,000 in each of the past four years.

The company is a large global player with ownership or an interest in 13 mines in Canada, the U.S., Chile and Peru. Many of its operations are in B.C., including five coal mines, a zinc mine and a copper mine. The company had sales of $10.3 billion and a profit of $780 million in 2012.

The public can get a sense of the areas that Teck has an interest in through its lobbying record of the B.C. Liberal government.

The company has sought to talk to government representatives about greenhouse gas reporting requirements, the province’s caribou strategy, the Mines Act permitting processes and the Environment Management Act, according to the province’s lobbying registry.

Goldcorp did not directly respond to questions about its political donations. Instead, Goldcorp spokesman Christine Marks would only say in an email the company recognizes the importance of making charitable contributions in the communities in which it operates.

Goldcorp, whose headquarters are in Vancouver, has mines in Canada, the U.S., Mexico and South America but none in British Columbia.

Goldcorp’s largest donation of $210,000 came in 2011. In 2012, it gave $10,000 to the Liberals.

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The mining sector has benefited from more than a decade of Liberal rule in B.C.

Mining companies received friendly tax treatment, including elimination of the corporate capital tax and the provincial sales tax on machinery and equipment. The Liberals also cut red tape on mine permitting.

Encana says its philosophy around political giving is to support the parties that share their business ideology. “Looking back over the past 12 years I guess, for us, that’s been the Liberal Party,” says Encana spokesman Jay Averill.

The company has given more than $100,000 to the Liberals in each of the past four years.

Encana has extensive natural gas operations and holdings in northeastern B.C., and has averaged about $1 billion in annual spending in the province in the past decade.

Averill sidestepped a question on whether large corporate or union donations are beneficial to the democratic process and should be allowed.

He said the company simply follows the political donation rules in each jurisdiction.

“We wouldn’t really want to voice an opinion one way or another,” said Averill.

B.C. has among the loosest political donation rules in Canada. Many provinces don’t allow corporate and union donations, and many put limits on contributions.

Averill declined to say whether Encana had any concerns unions would influence government policy should the NDP be elected.

The NDP received the majority of their top 20 contributions from unions.

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The natural gas sector has also benefited from Liberal rule, including from tax treatment, huge investment in areas like resource road construction and royalty reductions for summer drilling and deep natural gas exploration.

West Fraser says it has donated to the Liberals because they have provided “sound and consistent” forest policies.

West Fraser has contributed between $69,000 and $118,000 to the Liberals in each of the past four years.

West Fraser’s vice-president of finance, Larry Hughes, said the Liberals were particularly helpful with provincial timber pricing during the softwood lumber trade dispute with the United States.

West Fraser has also lobbied “various public office holders” concerning land use, timber tenure, logging and hauling, timber allocation and other regulatory issues affecting the forest products industry.

The forest sector also benefited from sweeping policy changes introduced by the Liberals in 2004, which all but eliminated the historical tie between timber and communities.

Hughes noted that political donations must be justified to shareholders, which is why they are approved by West Fraser’s board of directors.

Hughes said they don’t have a position on whether large donations by corporations or unions are appropriate. “Where we are permitted to do something, we will consider it,” he said.

Hughes also declined to comment on whether the company was concerned unions would be able to influence policy should the NDP win the election.

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New Car Dealers Association of B.C. president and CEO Blair Qualey said dealerships have long been supporters of parties that have a free-enterprise approach.

“They are entrepreneurs at heart and like small government, few regulation and low taxes,” said Qualey of the association’s 350 auto dealers.

“They like to support democracy and make contributions locally to candidates in all the parties,” he added.

He noted that auto dealers have also made contributions to the NDP.

The auto dealer’ donations to the Liberals peaked in 2009 at $275,000, falling to $42,000 in 2012.

Deputy premier Rich Coleman, a Liberal seeking a fifth term in Langley Aldergrove, argues that political parties should be free to raise money where they can.

“That means basically selling your story and getting folks to decide either individually or corporately to donate to you,” he said.

The Vancouver Sun focused its analysis on the B.C. Liberals and B.C. NDP because those two parties have received the bulk of campaign contributions since 2005, with $76 million and $40 million respectively.

In contrast, the Green Party of B.C. has received about $1 million in donations and the B.C. Conservatives about half a million.

Liberal leader Christy Clark tries to fold a membrane separator during a campaign stop at Saltworks Technology in Vancouver, B.C. Monday, April 22, 2013. British Columbians will go to the polls May 14th.

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